In this episode, I converse with Kara Rodby, who's currently a Graduate Student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. Kara received her B.S. in Environmental Engineering with high honours from Northwestern University in 2017 where her undergraduate thesis was on the microbial uptake of mercury in aquatic systems. At MIT alongside her PhD, she has also worked extensively in the industrial setting as part of the MIT Chemical Engineering Practice School Program. Kara also serves on the Graduate Student Advisory Board and is the co-founder of MIT Graduate Women in Chem.E.
Kara's research is both experimental and computational, focusing on systems-level engineering and techno-economic analysis of aqueous redox flow battery chemistries for long-duration grid storage. We indulge in a wide-ranging conversation about her fascinating path to science and academia; her groundbreaking research and its potentially revolutionary impact on the world; pioneering student activism and actively combating bias and discrimination in science through terrific endeavours to foster a more welcoming environment for underrepresented groups; science as a collaborative enterprise and disputing the notion of male white genius' revolutionising it; and many more things!!